Most everyone is familiar with the legacy of Carl Stotz and his dream. What began in 1939 as a place for his nephews to play organized baseball turned in to what is now Little League Baseball, the world’s largest youth program. But even in its 81st year, Little League is not the elder in the family of Lycoming County diamond sports. That honor belongs to the City Fast Pitch Softball League, which is quietly playing its 100th season this summer.

Personally, the City League provided many years of good fun, fellowship and competition as during the 1970s and 80s. I played first base for the McGrady’s Irish Inn managed by longtime softball enthusiast John Beauge. Beauge and the City League have been synonymous since 1967 when he became the league’s president following a merger with the Independent County League. He has continued in that capacity ever since.

Over the years, interest and participation in fastpitch softball has greatly diminished. Following the merger in 1967, the league boasted 14 teams. As the league began its COVID-delayed 2020 season in mid-June, five teams are competing; Beverage Barn, Moon Ballers, Heshbon Ducks, Professional Petroleum, and Bower’s Lab.

While there once were many fastpitch teams operating in the area, only the City League and the Jersey Shore League are still in existence. This year’s season began on June 15 with games being played at Tate Field Monday thru Friday, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Doubleheaders are played each night. There is no admission charge.

The business landscape has greatly changed over the years, and it has become increasingly more difficult to find team sponsors to help defray the cost of the league’s operation. During the earlier years of Beauge’s involvement, every team was in full uniform. That is not the case anymore. The cost alone of trying to find sponsors to fully uniform teams is over $1,000 a year.

Reflecting back on his years of involvement, Beauge lamented a lack of volunteers to get involved to do the many things needed to keep an amateur sport operating.

“I gave up managing a few years ago but am still involved doing a lot of the paperwork and organization with ASA. Taylor Tate deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the work he puts into the league. Everyone calls him ‘Squeak’ and he personally takes care of the field and makes sure things are in readiness for game nights. The league would be lost without him.”

When asked about the game’s differences during his many years of involvement, Beauge quickly identified the pitching.

“In fastpitch softball, the quality of pitching has decreased tremendously. We now have throwers rather than pitchers. Pitchers like Woody Scott, Dan Brink, George Hessert, and others just aren’t around anymore. They knew how to pitch. They could throw drops, curves, rise balls in addition to having speed. It used to be most of the games were low scoring, today that is not the case.”

In addition to serving as the league’s president, Beauge managed teams for many years. He remembers fondly the weekend tournament his teams played in across the state and especially enjoyed those played in Danville. “The competition was good, but you got to meet so many people who shared a love of softball, and that made it a whole lot of fun.”

One of the memorable highlights City League players will recall was a game played against the famed Eddie Feigner and his King and His Court barnstorming team. The team consisted of four players, a pitcher, catcher, shortstop and first baseman. They traveled the country playing games against local teams, and similar to the Harlem Globetrotters, they were rarely beaten.

A team of City League All-Stars playing at Bowman Field accomplished that rare feat one summer evening. The exhibition game featured two segments. Several innings were played as ‘a regular softball game’ during which time the City League was winning Feigner was not at all pleased. Then came the portion of the game where ‘the comedy routine’ took over. The City League team ‘cooperated,’ and the game became a different story.

Feigner was a fabulous pitcher who could throw up to 100 mph. He also featured pitches from behind his back, through his legs, from second base and blindfolded. He amassed over 10,000 victories, which included 1,000 no-hitters. I stepped in the batter’s box one time against him and, like so many others, struck out. That dubious feat put me in some very select company. Feigner did the same to such baseball greats as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Harmen Killebrew, and Roberto Clemente.

It used to be that a lot of players coming out of high school baseball would play fastpitch. Then the interest shifted to slow pitch, which featured more home runs and fewer strikeouts. But today even the number of slow pitch teams is decreasing. Now the emphasis of softball locally is more on girls.

That shift in emphasis has been emphatically evident locally during the past several weekends. As many as 92 fastpitch girls’ teams have been competing in tournaments at fields throughout the county, paying entry fees of $550 a team each week to do so.

Meanwhile, without much fanfare, the City League’s five teams are playing the game in celebration of its 100th year. We wish them well, including the one team that will be their representative in this summer’s ASA state tournament to be held in Lancaster.